George Washington Papers

From George Washington to Major General Horatio Gates, 26 May 1779

To Major General Horatio Gates

Head Quarters Middle Brook May 26th 177[9]1

Sir,

I inclose you a letter to Major General Heath directing him to repair to Head Quarters which I request you will forward to him.2

Another letter accompanies this from Brigadier General Du Portail to Mr De Castaing of Colonel Jacksons regiment,3 which you will also be pleased to have forwarded—The subject of it is, to offer Mr De Castaing an appointment in his family for which he has my consent—If Mr De Castaing accepts, you will permit him to join this Army. I am Sir Your Most Obet Servt

Go: Washington

LS, in Richard Kidder Meade’s writing, DNA:PCC, item 154; Df, DLC:GW; copy, DNA:PCC, item 171; Varick transcript, DLC:GW.

1Meade inadvertently wrote “1776.”

3Pierre de Castaing la Grâce (Peter Castaing; c.1740–1800) was born in Martinique and came to the United States by 1777, being appointed a second lieutenant in Col. Henry Jackson’s Additional Continental Regiment in March of that year. He was promoted to first lieutenant in April 1779 and subsequently served as an aide-de-camp to Brig. Gen. Duportail. He was captured at Charleston, S.C., in May 1780, but was exchanged in time to participate in the siege of Yorktown, Va., in the autumn of 1781. Although placed on the rolls of a series of Massachusetts regiments after 1780, he continued to serve as Duportail’s aide for the remainder of the war.

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